Sunday, July 16, 2006

Prescott’s sex dossier back in the news

It’s time for amateur cowboy John Prescott to strap on his gunbelt and saddle up because High Noon is fast approaching. A former Labour aide and journalist is suing him in a writ that claims he kept a dossier on the sexual activities of senior colleagues, including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Tricia McDaid told The Sunday Times earlier this year that the deputy prime minister was a serial groper who sexually harassed her over two years. Now, in a 50-paragraph writ that claims he was negligent, she says he demanded sex in exchange for a dossier that could make her name as a journalist.

According to McDaid, he even said the dossier contained the laughable allegation that Blair and Brown had a gay fling while in opposition because they shared a hotel bedroom — as a cost-cutting measure — on a US trip.

No more laughable than the fact that Prescott is still deputy prime minister. Does he have something on his boss? It would explain a great deal.

From the same Atticus column:

What a courageous act by Labour MP Austin Mitchell, who has sprung to the defence of John Prescott. “Leave the lad alone,” he says, referring to allegations about the deputy prime minister’s active love life. “The new journalism feeds on titbits in Tory websites and amplifies them into facts.”

Of course, not all papers rely on website titbits. The Sunday Times recently interviewed a woman who recalled meeting Prescott for the first time in 1978. “He pushed me quite forcefully against the wall and put his hand up my skirt,” said Linda McDougall, who is also known as Mrs Mitchell.

Neighbours say the Deputy Prime Minister - a close personal friend of Ms Winterton's for more than 25 years - has paid "dozens" of visits to her £350,000 semi-detached house over the past three years.

In fact, he is such a regular presence that Margaret Hudson, who lives next door to 47-year-old Ms Winterton, has noted the affectionate bond which has sprung up between her pet and a member of Prescott's retinue.

She explained that the DPM generally arrives in his Government-issued Jaguar, accompanied by a second car, usually a BMW, carrying security officers.

"My Boy spies them whenever they come," she said of her pet. "He loves the security man and always strolls over when he sees them. They get along really well."

My Boy, a ginger stray, was adopted by Mrs Hudson along with six other strays.